Speaker Ryan to call for major regulatory reforms

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will call for major regulatory reforms Tuesday.

The GOP regulatory agenda would give lawmakers more power over regulators and more authority to reject controversial rules.

The plan, to be unveiled Tuesday afternoon as part of a broader GOP policy agenda, also focuses on eliminating costly and outdated regulations.

{mosads}“We have too many regulations, but the real problem is that we have too many bad regulations,” the GOP leadership wrote in the plan.

The effort will include a renewed push for legislation that would give Congress the final say over major regulations.

The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act passed the House last July but has stalled in the Senate amid President Obama’s threat to veto the bill.

“Congressional approval should be required for major new regulations,” the House Republican policy agenda reads.

Ryan will also push for a regulatory budget that Republicans say will force federal agencies to focus on their “highest priorities.” Critics, however, say it would handcuff regulators.

“Congress should also consider a first-ever regulatory budget that would place limits on the amount of regulatory costs federal agencies can impose each year,” the Republicans wrote. 

“Once the budget limit is reached, the agency could not enact or issue any more regulations,” they added.

Regulators would also be instructed to implement the “least-costly” regulations.

Republicans point to a need for “spring cleaning” at federal agencies, calling for the creation of an independent commission that could eliminate outdated regulations.

The Searching for and Cutting Regulations That Are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act would do that. It passed the House in January but has also stalled in the Senate amid another veto threat by President Obama.

“The agencies themselves have shown little interest in revisiting their past regulations and thinning out those that have proven to be ineffective, outdated, or unnecessarily expensive,” Republicans wrote. “For this reason, there is need for an independent body to subject existing regulations to periodic review.”

Aside from the regulatory reform initiatives, Republicans are also looking  to address various energy, environment and finance rules.